English City Celebrates Its 1,100th Birthday Travel Notebook

March 30, 1986|by JANE KOCH, The Morning Call

A fine place to use as a base while touring the Yorkshire Dales of England might be the community of Ripon, which this year is the scene of performances and parties saluting its 1,100th anniversary. In celebration of the granting of their city's charter by King Alfred the Great in 886, residents have planned historical re-enactments, parades, exhibitions, concerts, fairs, Morris dancing, medieval dramas and Shakespeare productions.

What is believed to be the original hunting horn given to Ripon by King Alfred has been placed on display in the Town Hall. A similar instrument is sounded at 9 each evening in the market square by local mailman and band member Alan Oliver, clad in tunic and tricorn hat. In ancient times, the ceremony was performed by an official called the Wakeman, who guarded the town. A 14th-century Wakeman's House, overlooking the market square, is reputed to have sheltered two kings, Henry IV when he fled from the plague in London and Charles I on the way to his trial.

Special services are scheduled for several dates in summer and autumn in 12th-century Minster Cathedral, built upon the remains of a Saxon church, founded in the seventh century by St. Wilfred. A dignitary riding a white horse will portray the city's patron saint during an annual St. Wilfred's procession and pageant Aug. 2.

Ripon is located about 200 miles north of London and a half-hour's drive from York. Nearby sites worth visiting include Fountains Abbey, the largest monastic ruin in Britain; Studley Royal Gardens, with temples and lakes; Markenfield Hall, a moated manor house; Newby Hall, which contains Gobelin tapestries, and Norton Conyers, model for Thornfield Hall in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."

Accommodations include the family-run Ripon Spa Hotel on the edge of the city and the Black Swan, a historic inn in the center of neighboring Helmsley. Both hotels are listed in the British Tourist Authority's "Commended Country Hotels, Guest Houses and Restaurants," which is available, free of charge, at the BTA office, 40 W. 57th St., New York 10019.

PLIMOTH

Costumed "pilgrims" again are going about their daily tasks at Plimoth Plantation. The living history museum in Plymouth, Mass., opened this weekend for the 1986 season.

In addition to performing 17th-century-style planting, food preparation and household chores, the role players will join in special activities at the 1627 Pilgrim Village. Weddings will be enacted May 11, July 9 and Aug. 2. "Wampanoag Indian fur traders" will visit the village for several days in May and June, and "representatives of New Amsterdam" will arrive in August and again in October. A General Muster of all men between the ages of 16 and 60 will be staged Aug. 30.

At the harbor, crew membersaboard the replica 17th-century merchant vessel Mayflower II will demonstrate maritime chores and sail the ship on specified days from June through October.

A Wampanoag summer campsite, open from May through October, will be the scene of crafts, food and farming demonstrations. A Wampanoag wedding will be recreated July 19 and an intertribal trading session will be enacted June 28.

Plimoth Plantation will close Nov. 30.

A combination ticket to all exhibits is $8.25 for adults and $5.25 for children, 5 and older.

WHALE WATCHING

Boston's New England Aquarium will begin a series of five-hour whale watch excursions April 19. Trips aboard the vessel Voyager from Boston Harbor to Stellwagen Bank are planned 9 a.m., April 19 and 20 and April 26 and 27, then will take place daily until Oct. 13.

Guided by an aquarium biologist, passengers will have a chance to see humpback, minke and finback whales, as well as seabirds. The naturalist also will talk on the history and ecology of Boston Harbor and its many islands.

When the daily schedule goes into effect, the ship will depart 9 a.m. Mondays through Fridays. Two trips will take place on Saturdays and Sundays, at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. In July and August, there also will be two sailings on Fridays and holidays.

Rates are $20 for adults, $17 for senior citizens, students and military personnel and $16 for children. Reservations are required. Telephone: 617-973-5206.

EUROPEAN FARMS

Visits to farms in Austria, Switzerland and Italy will be special highlights of a tour, led by Glenn Ellenberger, The Morning Call Garden Tips columnist and former Lehigh County agricultural extension agent, and his wife Lee. The 14-day itinerary will begin Aug. 23 with a Lufthansa flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt and three days of sightseeing in and around Munich. From there, the group will travel by motorcoach to Salzburg and Villach, Austria; Padua, Rome, Florence, and Milan, Italy, and Lucerne, Engelberg, Bern and Zurich, Switzerland. Participants will meet farming families and tour properties at localities near Salzburg, in Lombardy en route to Milan and near Bern.